Development and validation of a novel nomogram for predicting overall survival patients with neuroblastoma.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a nomogram specially for predicting overall survival (OS) for Chinese patients with neuroblastoma (NB). METHODS: Patients with pathologically confirmed NB who were newly diagnosed and received treatments at our hospital from October 2013 to October 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. The nomogram for OS were built based on Cox regression analysis. The validation of the prognostic model was evaluated by concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, and decision curve analyses (DCAs). RESULTS: A total of 254 patients with NB were included in this study. They were randomly divided into a training cohort (n = 178) and a validation cohort (n = 76) at a ratio of 7:3. Multivariate analyses revealed that prognostic variables significantly related to the OS were age at diagnosis, bone metastasis, hepatic metastasis, INSS stage, MYCN status and DNA ploidy. The nomogram was constructed based on above 6 factors. The C-index values of the nomogram for predicting 3-year and 5-year OS were 0.926 and 0.964, respectively. The calibration curves of the nomogram showed good consistency between nomogram prediction and actual survival. The DCAs showed great clinical usefulness of the nomograms. Furthermore, patients with low-risk identified by our nomogram had much higher OS than those with high-risk (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The nomogram we constructed exhibited good predictive performance and could be used to assist clinicians in their decision-making process.

Landscape of m6A RNA methylation regulators in liver cancer and its therapeutic implications.

Liver cancer remains as the third leading cause of cancer-related death globally as of 2020. Despite the significant progress made in the field of liver cancer treatment, there is still a lack of effective therapies in patients with advanced cancer and the molecular mechanisms underlying liver cancer progression remain largely elusive. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification, as the most prevalent and abundant internal RNA modification in eukaryotic RNAs, plays an essential role in regulating RNA metabolism including RNA splicing, stability, translation, degradation. To date, there is mounting evidence showing that m6A dysregulation is closely associated with the onset and development of many tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatoblastoma (HB). In this review, we summarize the last research progress regarding the functions of m6A-related regulators in liver cancer and its underlying mechanisms. Additionally, we also discuss the therapeutic applications of m6A-based inhibitors in liver cancer treatment.

VEGF-C is positively associated with lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis in rectal cancer.

Rectal cancer is a common malignancywith a less than 5-year postoperative survival rate. Although it often metastasizes via the lymph and blood, the detailed mechanism of this process remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) expression and lymphangiogenesis, as well as its relation to lymphatic metastasis of rectal cancer. To address this question, VEGF-C expression in rectal cancer and normal tissue adjacent to tumor was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The lymphatic endothelial cell-specific marker D2-40 was used to label lymphatic endothelial cells and the lymphatic vessel density (LVD) was subsequently quantified. As expected, the expression of VEGF-C in rectal cancer (75%) was significantly higher than in normal adjacent tissue (25%), and this level correlated with differentiation, Dukes stage, and lymph node metastasis, though not with sex or age. The LVD was higher in VEGF-C positive rectal cancer than in VEGF-C negative rectal cancer, and was also higher in lymphatic metastases than in non-lymphatic metastases. These results indicate that expression of VEGF-C may impact the prognosis of rectal cancer via its effect on the formation of new lymphatic vessels. This represents a significant advance in the study of the genesis and development of rectal cancer, and may have value in clinical care.